Jack Luo — 4 minute read

Introduction

In Zero to One Peter Thiel asks: what will the world look like in 20 years? That question is not just academic; for founders it determines whether the company you are building will survive the hype cycles and still matter decades from now. Here I share my own reflections on future‑proofing innovation.

Hire the right adventurers

Day‑one hires set the culture. You are looking for people who can think independently and act without waiting for a manual, who are willing to challenge the founder’s vision and who have the grit to survive 3 AM customer calls and engineering crises. They should be delusionally aligned with the mission—believing in it so deeply that their initial position matters less than their velocity. Finally, they must click with the team; many ventures die from internal friction rather than competition.

Orders of magnitude, not increments

To build a future, your technology cannot just be incrementally better; it needs to be an order of magnitude improvement. Think SpaceX or the iPhone. That level of innovation requires intense, focused work. A deep 9‑to‑6 schedule beats a soul‑crushing 996 because the goal is not to clock hours but to generate breakthroughs.

Navigate the coming decades

Looking 20 years ahead means grappling with centralized giants and open source. Today a few companies dominate AI because they control compute and data. Without monopoly controls they may continue to hold the high ground. To compete, you either need to build something 10x better or craft clever “magic protocols” that integrate high‑leverage systems without waiting for official APIs. Our own Second‑Brain Context Engine is an example: it aims to sift through massive data and surface exactly what matters at each step.

Product as marketing

Many founders wrestle with whether to focus on building or on marketing. My conviction is that you should build something so exceptional that it becomes the marketing itself. An extraordinary product generates its own buzz and draws people in more effectively than any ad campaign. The lesson is simple: concentrate on making magic and the world will notice.